Author's note: This is the first chapter in a short little multi-fic I thought needed to be written based on the relationships happening this final season. The title comes from the Fall Out Boy song Miss Missing You. Please let me know what you think.

Happy reading!

Maybe I'll Burn a Little Brighter

A Glee Fanfiction

Chapter One

Sebastian Smythe stepped into the familiar room and looked around. The young men were dressed in their black uniforms with the fine red stripes around the lapels. It brought him back to just a couple years before when he walked these halls to this room daily. It was his sanctuary, even if he didn't fully appreciate it when he was there.

And then there was Blaine Anderson. They had been friendly rivals for so long. It was nice to see him back in the room with the Warblers as their coach. At least someone was finally taking an interest and not letting them figure it out on their own.

"Hey, Sebastian." Blaine greeted him. He held out his hand. "It's nice to see you here."

"Blaine, hi. You, too." Sebastian shook his hand. And then he paused when he caught sight of the burly man standing just over Blaine's shoulder. Dave Karofsky? What was he doing at this open house? He was never in any glee club, much less the Warblers. And he definitely never attended Dalton.

Blaine followed his look. He smiled, "This is my boyfriend Dave."

"Your boyfriend?" Sebastian asked in shock.

"Yeah." Blaine smiled proudly.

Dave shook Sebastian's hand. "I remember seeing you at Scandals."

Sebastian nodded. "Yeah. You look…" He remembered the suicide attempt and how he'd felt responsible for it.

"Thank you." Dave said. "I've had a lot of tough times. But this guy here has helped a lot." He draped an arm across Blaine's shoulders.

Sebastian looked away a moment. Why was he suddenly upset that Blaine was with Dave? And what had happened to Kurt? It wasn't his business, but he wanted to know. He opened his mouth to ask, but Blaine looked up at the clock.

"Sorry, I have to get these guys to the auditorium." He gave Dave a quick kiss and hurried to the Warblers to usher them out of the rehearsal room.

Sebastian looked to Dave. "So you and Blaine Anderson, huh? I thought he was engaged to that Kurt guy."

"He was." Dave explained. "They broke up. It was pretty rough. But Blaine and I are good. And how are you?"

"I'm good. Just started my third year in pre-law."

"Oh, cool."

"And what do you do?"

"I'm currently working at a hardware store. But I'm taking some classes for pre-law myself."

"Oh, cool." Sebastian looked at his watch. "I think this thing is about to get started. Want to sit together?"

"Sure."

Dave was nervous. He remembered having a bit of a crush on Sebastian. Seeing him so often at Scandals, he'd only ever gotten up the courage to speak with him once and was immediately crushed.

Blaine was already saving him a seat when he walked into the auditorium. There was another seat beside them and Sebastian took it.

"Are you nervous?" Dave asked as he slipped a hand into Blaine's.

"A little. But they have these songs down."

Sebastian leaned around Dave and asked, "How are they with choreography?"

"They're pretty great." Blaine answered. "There are a few things I think we may still need to work on before competition, but we'll see."

The lights went down over the audience and came up on the group on stage. It was high energy from the start. They used the entire stage. There were a few twists and even some flips in the air. Dave was impressed. He would never be able to move like that.

He looked to Blaine who was watching his group with a critical eye. He wrote a few notes on a pad he'd produced from his pocket.

On the other side, Sebastian sat back and watched with a bit of nostalgia on his face. Dave was struck by it in that moment. He had never seen someone more handsome. He shook himself and made his eyes focus back on the stage to watch the rest of the performance.

When the performance was over, Blaine turned to them and said, "I need to go give these guys a post mortem. But, I'll meet you out front. Sebastian, you should join us for dinner. That okay, Dave?"

"Fine by me." Dave said. "Breadstix?"

"It's like that's the only restaurant in town." Sebastian said with a laugh.

"It seems like it sometimes." Dave chuckled. "But I can't get enough of their mushroom ravioli."

Blaine made a face. "It's disgusting. But they really do have some good food. I didn't appreciate it when I was in New York."

"Okay, Breadstix it is." Sebastian said.

Dave and Sebastian made their way outside.

Dave asked, "So where are you going to school?"

"Ohio State. I'm hoping to get into Harvard for law school."

"My goal is Yale." Dave said.

Sebastian asked as they stepped outside, "And where do you go?"

"The Ohio State campus here at Lima." Dave explained. "I like it a lot."

"Good."

They stood in awkward silence for a while. Dave didn't know what else to say. He stuck his hands in his pockets and looked around.

Sebastian paced a little and then stopped to lean against the wall.

"Is it weird being back in your old school?" Dave asked.

Sebastian smiled. "Not really."

"I don't like walking the halls of McKinley." Dave said. "I wasn't in a good place then."

"I know how that feels." Sebastian watched him a moment and then said, "I was kind of a bully myself."

"Yeah, I know." Dave took a deep breath. "You weren't so kind to me."

Sebastian pushed off the wall and walked toward Dave. "And I'm sorry about that. We should try again." He held out his hand. "Sebastian Smythe, recovering asshole."

Dave chuckled and shook the offered hand. "David Karofsky, recovering master of denial."

Sebastian laughed. "I guess I'm too late."

"Too late?" Dave asked. He had no chance to figure out what that meant because Blaine appeared. "Hey, you!" He pulled Blaine into a hug.

"Hey!" Blaine smiled. He looked over Dave's shoulder to see Sebastian giving his boyfriend an appreciative look-over. He shook his head and stepped out of the embrace. "Are we ready to go?"

"Yes, I think so." Dave said.

Sebastian agreed. "I'll meet you there."

In the car, Dave asked, "Did you and Sebastian ever…?"

"No, of course not." Blaine said. "He wasn't anything but a friend. Ever. It was just Kurt. Until you."

"Do you hate that I have had so many boyfriends?"

Blaine thought a moment and then said, "How serious were they?"

"Not at all." Dave looked out the window. He kept quiet until they made it to the restaurant.

Blaine chattered the entire way about all the things he still needed to work on with the Warblers.